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Pare has new putter, plenty of supporters

By Dennis Whitton, dwhitton@lowellsun.com

Updated:
06/27/2017 08:25:41 AM EDT

Scott Pare of Mt. Pleasant chips onto the green at the 14th hole during the first round of the City Tournament Friday on his home course. He leads by three going into the final round on Wednesday at Vesper CC. SUN/Julia Malakie

LOWELL -- Scott Pare was hanging around the house last Thursday when he spotted an Odyssey putter in his 17-year-old son Brady's golf bag that looked pretty enticing.

He grabbed it and took it down to his club, Mt. Pleasant, to putt around on the practice green for awhile. When he came home he stuck it in his own bag and over the course of the next two days he used it to forge a three-shot lead in the Lowell City Golf Tournament.

Pare shot a 1-under par 71 in the first round at Mt. Pleasant and backed it up with a 3-under 69 on Saturday at Long Meadow.

He leads the Cities by three shots over Nabnasset's Mike Walker and Vesper's Rich Campiola heading into the final 18 holes at Vesper Country Club on Wednesday.

Pare is playing in his 25th City Tournament. He would be a popular winner. He finished third behind Doug Parigian in 1999 and second by a shot behind Dave Poehler in 2002, but hasn't had much of a sniff since then.

In the meantime he has won a Greater Lowell Golden Gloves Novice title in the super heavyweight division and a national championship with the Lowell Nor'easter football team. So the Cities would be a neat personal hat trick.

"My key is to stay patient," said Pare, 43, about his game plan. "I just want to par every single hole. If I can do that and shoot 72 or 73, somebody's going to have to do something special to catch me."

Pare's history at Vesper is "hot and cold," he said.

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Last year he lost his feel for the slick greens and took a nightmarish 42 putts in his round. But that was before he laid claim to Brady's White Hot model flat-stick.

The golf coach at Lowell Catholic High School, Pare is a life-long Lowell resident. He and his wife Christina have two sons, Brady and Brock, 16, and a daughter Lacey, 12. His father, Al Pare, is a former Lowell High football coach who has coached football at a number of different high schools over the years.

Brady caddied in the first round and will tote the bag at Vesper. Brock caddied in round two. His father used to pull the duty ("I've had eight or nine caddies over the 25 years," said Scott) but since suffering a stroke he is happy to just watch from the patio or from behind a tree.

"He gets very emotional," said Scott. "He was crying when we were talking about it over the weekend. If I win it will mean a lot to him."

One thing about Pare, he will pack them in.

"The energy at Long Meadow was electrifying," he said. "Everybody was cheering for me. My playing partners looked over and said, 'What are we, dog meat?' My buddies were pretty loud.

"We went over to (Mt. Pleasant pro) Joel Jenkins' house on Saturday for a graduation party and when I got back there were 67 text messages wishing me well. If the people show up Wednesday we might have some fun."

Among those who will definitely show up are a bunch of former Nor'easter teammates.

"They'll be the 6-foot, 250-pound guys in tank-tops," said Pare.

But he knows this won't be a walk in the park even with a three-shot advantage. Anything can happen. His lead could evaporate before he makes it off the island -- or it could expand.

"Mikey (Walker) is hungry for a title too," he said. "He hit it OB on seven at Long Meadow and made an 8 and still shot 73. I couldn't believe it. Some guys might have packed it in.

"I don't know much about Campiola, but it's his home course and (Andrew) Conway's too. Ken Gys, Nick Fantasia, even Smitty (Phil Smith) all have a shot."

Pare is undoubtedly amped up. But adrenaline can be good and bad in golf. When it helps Pare drive the ball more than 300 yards it's good. But he remembers one particular time when it was bad.

"In my first year playing the tournament it was the second round at Mt. Pleasant and I started par-par-birdie-birdie-eagle and I took the lead from Dougie (Parigian). Then on the par-3 sixth hole I hit a 6-iron out onto Stedman Street and that was that," he said.

Still, for Scott Pare, the good memories have always outweighed the bad. He hopes to add another one to his bank Wednesday night.

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